Massive bomb breaks Middle East 'truce'
Palestinian militants found a way around the heavy fortifications at the Israeli-run crossing point between Egypt and Gaza – tunnelling under the base and blowing it up with more than a ton of explosives, killing five soldiers.
The attack last night was the bloodiest since Yasser Arafat died a month ago, negating some of the good will flowing between the two sides since then.
Israel said the bombing jeopardised chances for normalisation.
Several structures at the crossing collapsed and others were damaged by the force of the blast. In a co-ordinated assault, Palestinian gunmen rushed the base after the blast.
A gunman who escaped said he tried to kidnap a wounded soldier, but killed him because the soldier resisted.
In a statement released early today, the military said that five soldiers were killed and five injured, two seriously, in the explosion.
The statement said that two Palestinians charged the base and opened fire after the blast, and soldiers shot them dead. Palestinians said one of the attackers was killed and the other escaped.
Hitting back, Israeli helicopters fired at least five missiles at targets in Gaza City early today, witnesses said. There were no reports of casualties. One missile set a fire at an abandoned metal workshop, and the other target was an empty house near the Islamic University, they said.
The military said the targets were buildings where Hamas manufactured and stored weapons, including mortars and rockets.
The attack and retaliation were clear signs that a lull in violence that followed Arafat’s death on November 11 is over.
On Tuesday, an Israeli soldier was killed in a blast at the entrance to another tunnel near the Gaza-Israel border, setting off Israeli retaliation that killed four Palestinians.
Palestinian mortar and rocket barrages have hit Jewish settlements in Gaza daily, and militants have resumed firing home-made Qassam rockets at Israeli towns just outside Gaza. Israeli forces returned fire, wounding several Palestinians.
In another development, imprisoned Palestinian uprising leader Marwan Barghouti declared in a letter yesterday that he would drop out of the race and throw his support to mainstream candidate Mahmoud Abbas in a January 9 election to replace Arafat.
